Be Mine, Valentine.

Did you know I take pictures every Valentine's Day?  

Yes, it's a weird tradition, but I think it happens because I simply just love love and I want to celebrate it.

And I love the joy one inevitably feels from this holiday. 

Click HERE for my photos from 2010 (just for kicks).

(Don't I look so different now?)

A big thanks to Dano for getting me the coolest heart shaped twinkle lights for my birthday (which decorate the white asylum walls of my bedroom all year round), which I used in this shoot.

How were all of your Valentine's Days? 

Lovey, dovey and mushy, I hope. 

I had a pretty great day, myself. 

Elder BF certainly did not forget about me!

(He's such a keeper.)

But I'll have to tell you about it a little bit later because right now, I can hear the sound of the rain beating on my windows and roof and therefore, my bed stacked high with blankets and pillows, herbal raspberry tea, and my favorite movie of all time, You've Got Mail are all calling my name. 

Happy heart day, my friends!

xxx

Emily.camille.photography

I guess you could say Mr. C and I are close. So close in fact that this is our second photo shoot together. (First shoot was over a year ago: HERE). I don't put these on Facebook or Instagram or anything like that because people like to judge. (No, these are not engagements.) And that's okay, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I trust my blogger friends enough to just accept them for what they are. And that is more like, "See Ya In Two" kinda pictures. And I don't mean two days, two weeks, or even two months. I mean two years. Mr. C is now Elder C, serving a mission in New York City for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I couldn't be more proud of him.  As mentioned above though, it does mean I won't see him or hear from him (except for writing letters) for 730 days (give or take, but who's counting?). And considering we've dated for longer than two years, it's a big deal.(Like 1/9th of my life, big deal.) I am used to constantly having a text conversation going (thank you parents, for the unlimited cell phone plan!) and always having plans to see him every day or at least every other day. (Going to separate high schools and separate colleges while living 30 minutes apart hasn't been exactly easy... but it's been worth it!) So it's going to take some adjusting, I'm not ignorant to the fact. And I know it's going to be hard at first, but I am also hopeful that it will get easier.

I owe a huge thank you to his family, for raising him to be worthy to serve a mission for the Lord, to my own family for supporting me these past few years with all the ups and downs that come from a relationship, to my wonderful friends who have offered me food, hugs, and late night talks, and to Mr. C himself, for selflessly sacrificing two years of his life for others. What a guy.

***All photo credits to Emily.camille.photography. Check out her Facebook page HERE. She's wonderful, reasonable, and crazy talented.***

3.21.12

After work today and an unsuccessful nap (frustrating!), I knew that it was time to study Greek and Roman architecture for my interior design test. However, I had no desire to do so. As I looked out my window, I noticed it was windy outside and that spurred a craving; a craving for photography. It's been over a month since I've broken out Nina the Nikon and ladies and gents, it feel good.

Since I'm not a huge fan of landscape photography, and was all alone in the house at the time, I used the automatic timer and with a little snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, a big whooooooooosh from the wind, and a whole lotta editing fun on picnik (R.I.P picnik. Less than one month left!) these were my results:



I am telling the truth when I say it was tres, tres fun, however is it juvenile to wish I had a twin sister so I could be behind the camera rather than in front? Despite that thought reminding myself of when I was younger, wishing I had someone to play dress up with while my older sisters were at school, I find myself thinking about that a lot these days... because fun side note, both my sisters were at school! Just like the good ol' days. Oh and one's married now... nbd. But c'mon. Who am I kidding? In all honesty, I still act like I'm four years old more often than I act like I'm 19 years old... but that raises the question, is there anything wrong with that?

(I think not, in case you were wondering.)

K & D

Itching for a taste of Katie and Daren's big day?
Go here for a teaser slideshow:

http://brionhopkins.com/slideshows/katiedaren/

It's beautiful.
Also!
Katie has a blog!!!!

It's ever so delightful and makes me happy, happy, happy!
I think you'll like it too.

http://picklefaces.blogspot.com/

confession #4

Sometimes when I should be studying, I spend an eternity editing pictures for kicks and giggles. Ohhh yeah. I'm lovin these faces. Can you tell whose they are...? Hint: one of them might be mine, and the other one might be my boyfriend's... Maybe. I can't promise anything.

Free Crappy Portraits (.com)

Have any of you ever heard of freecrappyportraits.com? A friend of mine showed it to me and I immediately knew I just had to do it.

But wait. What is this exactly? Well. Here is the info on their page:

"Send any picture you want immortalized by one of our terrible artists. If you can't decide, send us a couple to choose from. All we ask is that you please try to keep the overall file size under 5 megabytes.

You don't have to, but we highly recommend that you tell us something about you or whoever else is in the photo. It can be a list of your favorite cheeses, a tale about the ever-elusive Sasquatch, or a haiku about roller disco — we aren't picky. Just keep in mind that you'll probably get a better portrait if you tell us a bit about yourself!"

So here is what yours truly said:

"My name is Alex though I've always wished it was Penelope. I love glittery wrapping paper, crunchy grapes, shoulder blades and collar bones, wet paper, pay checks, and pie. I believe in happy endings and I wish I was Beyonce at least twice a day."

And this is the picture I submitted with it....

Emma Marie Photography

and this is what I just got back...

OH MY GOODNESS, I LOVE IT!!!!! I am so happy and find it so funny.

So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU freecrappyportraits.com for all your hard work and in turn, providing me with a little smile. You guys rock.

Alyssa and Shawn

Alyssa and Shawn first met when Shawn asked her to Junior Prom two years ago... they have been together ever since. And guess what, my dear, dear friends? They are so cute!!! And just for kicks and giggles they asked me to do their pictures about 2 weeks ago. (Kind of like the ones I asked the ever-so-talented Emma Marie to do for me here) And I have finally finished. Here are a few of the finished products:

beauty. lots of it.

There was lots of beauty this evening.
First, there was a sunset. So, naturally, I ran outside in my pj's and high bun to go capture it. Unfortunately, I forgot that cars would be driving by on the street. I got honked at multiple times. [Beacause of my beauty, obviously;)]

Then, Dano delighted me by letting me play and do her make up. Here's a close up of her eyes. Ain't she perty? I can't handle it. [Oh and look at those white choppers.] Hot dang girl, hot dang.

ps. wanna be on TV? go to starbiz.com to be apart of a stuio audience tomorrow. you get to sit, look pretty, and listen to some AMAZING talent. how does it tie in with this post, you ask? easy. isn't that just a beautiful thought?

(d.co never dies)

So... ya know how some computers have a camera on them? Well at the d.co sleepover last Wednesday, (d.co never dies) we had a little too much fun. And once you start, you cannot stop. Here are our pictures. (courtesy of mandy sue who i love mucho).